Citizenship vs. legalization? Views locally are varied

File photo. Luis Bravo, left, 21, and Daniel Bravo , 20, attended a September rally with a coalition of local business, faith, civil rights, community and labor groups to call on Congressman Ed Royce to support immigration reform with a path to citizenship.ANA VENEGAS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

VOICES

“Legalizing millions during high unemployment betrays American workers. … The Republican plan foreshadows the end of America as we know it.”

–Evelyn Miller, Irvine resident and board member of the National Coalition for Immigration Reform, which opposes illegal immigration

“At one point, I wanted all 11 million of them bussed out of the country. But that's not going to happen. So something has to be done. I'm now open to legalization. But the rules have to be enforced.”

–Marvin Tickle, 63, a retiree in Laguna Woods

“This is terrific news for our neighbors and friends. I support these standards and believe our country's leaders should work toward passing this legislation.”

–Kevin Doi, lead pastor, Epic Church, Fullerton

“It is a step in the right direction … But we do not welcome legislation that excludes a path to citizenship for so many other tax-paying immigrants.”

–Hee Joo Yoon, executive director of the Korean Resource Center in Los Angeles and Orange County

“Even with the children of the immigrants, that hasn't been addressed constitutionally. The way I interpret the Constitution, they're not citizens.”

–Herbert Baker, a Long Beach resident and member of the Black American Leadership Alliance, which opposes illegal immigration

IMMIGRATION HISTORY

There was a time when the United States encouraged open immigration to settle its empty lands. By 1880, there was a big increase in immigration, and the Immigration Service was established in 1891. Here are a few key moments in the country's immigration situation since then:

In 1921, Congress adopted a new immigration policy with quotas based on nationalities, and in 1924, it created the U.S. Border Patrol.

From 1942 through 1964, more than 4.6 million Mexican nationals participated in the Bracero Program, a guest worker program for farm laborers in California and other states.

In 1965, Congress established a system designed to unite immigrant families and attract skilled immigrants; and in 1980, the country established a policy governing the admission of refugees.

In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which provided amnesty to an estimated 3 million people. Smaller amnesty programs during the 1990s included one for Haitians and one for Central Americans.

From 2006 to 2007, immigration reform was vigorously debated. It failed.

Last year, the U.S. Senate approved a bill creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents. The House has yet to act.

Sources: Center for Immigration Studies and the Bracero History Archive

Edgar Fernandez says he and his friends are tired. Tired of losing job opportunities. Tired of fearing deportation.

The Orange County resident who has lived in the United States illegally for nine years said most people he knows would be happy to receive legal status, even if it doesn't include citizenship.

“To have a document would give us peace,” said Fernandez, who recently married an American citizen and is in the process of acquiring legal residency.

A new path to citizenship for most of the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally is not part of a blueprint for immigration reform released by Republican leaders last week.

“There will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation's immigration laws – that would be unfair to those immigrants who have played by the rules and harmful to promoting the rule of law,” reads the document. But the one-page set of principles does offer a path to living in the country “legally and without fear.”

Fernandez and his friends are not alone in welcoming the idea.

Recent surveys by the Pew Research Center indicated that a majority of Hispanics and Asian Americans say it's more important to be able to live and work in the U.S. legally, without the threat of deportation, than it is to have citizenship.

Of the 701 Hispanic adults polled nationwide by phone, 55 percent said it's more important to get that relief from deportation than to have a pathway to citizenship, compared with 35 percent who cited citizenship as more important. Asian Americans hold similar views, but by a smaller margin: 49 percent of the 802 polled said relief from deportation is more important, compared with 44 percent who cited citizenship first, according to the December surveys.

Since the release of the GOP document, President Barack Obama has hinted that he's willing to compromise, but the White House reiterated its position that there be “no uncertainty” that immigrants now living in the United States illegally should be able to become American citizens.

While some immigration-reform advocates, including the National Immigration Forum, applauded the new Republican principles, others slammed it.

“Citizenship is the only viable solution to prevent any separation of family,” said Oswaldo Farias, a Costa Mesa resident and U.S. citizen working with the Orange County Congregation Community Organization.

The Republican document delineates a set of principles to guide the debate on immigration. The blueprint calls for a path to citizenship for young people brought to the U.S. as children. It also states that visa and green-card allocations “need to reflect the needs of employers.” And it calls for improvements to border security, employment verification and workplace enforcement.

For the majority of the estimated 11 million people living without proper documentation in the United States, the document offers legalization, “but only if they were willing to admit their culpability, pass rigorous background checks, pay significant fines and back taxes, develop proficiency in English and American civics, and be able to support themselves and their families (without access to public benefits).”

“Some are reasonable suggestions. Some make sense. … But trying to criminalize people doesn't make sense,” said Daniel Bravo, a Costa Mesa resident whose family has mixed residency status.

In the Bravo family, the youngest is U.S.-born. Two of the older siblings have so-called DREAMer status under Obama's program that defers deportation for young people brought to this country illegally as children; and a third brother has requested it. But the parents are undocumented.

File photo. Luis Bravo, left, 21, and Daniel Bravo , 20, attended a September rally with a coalition of local business, faith, civil rights, community and labor groups to call on Congressman Ed Royce to support immigration reform with a path to citizenship. ANA VENEGAS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Deacon Freddy Hernandez, of Saint Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim, speaks on a panel with other spiritual leaders at Saint Anselm's Episcopal Church in Garden Grove on Saturday during the Orange County Congregation Community Organization's annual leadership conference. NICK AGRO, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
FILE PHOTO Immigration activists Enrique Bravo and wife VIcky (front) pose with children Luis, 21, Daniel, 20, Jessica, 19, and Alex, 10, (from back-left) at St. Joachim Catholic Church in Costa Mesa. The parents are undocumented. Their youngest son was born in the United States. EUGENE GARCIA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Father Ricardo Aquilar speaks on a panel with spiritual leaders at Saint Anselm's Episcopal Church in Garden Grove on Saturday during the Orange County Congregation Community Organization's annual leadership conference. NICK AGRO, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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